NAN-H-26
Water
Zing(Taraba), April 15, 2017(NAN) The Jalingo Water Project will add 20 million litres of water to the current eight million litres serving the Tarba capital, Gov. Darius Ishaku said on Saturday in Zing.
Ishaku told Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) stakeholders in Zing and Yorro, that the water distribution network would also be expanded from the initial 46 kilometres to 150 kilometres, to cover the entire Jalingo and its environs.
He said that the expansion of the project was imperative considering the rapid increase in the population of Taraba that had served as a safe haven for people fleeing the attacks in the North-east.
“The population of Jalingo has rapidly increased from 50,000 to 300,000 people; the city is still growing and may soon hit the half million mark.
“When we came on board, water harvested in Jalingo was coming from only two boreholes. That arrangement was meant for a small town, not a city or a state capital.
“We decided to go to River Lamurde and went down over six meters below, to create some channels and canals because the water there gushes throughout the year.
“So, we are building a mini dam and a treatment plant at the site to pump water to a hill top reservoir on the Jalingo rock. This will provide sustainable water for the next 50 years,” he said.
Ishaku said that the project, which was expected to be completed in December, would also provide water to the suburbs of Jalingo such as Kona, Taraba University, among others.
The governor said that 150 boreholes would also be sunk across the state, in addition to the 100 boreholes sunk in 2016.
He urged the managements of Zing and Yorro Local Governments to liaise with political office holders from the area to ensure that boreholes marked for them were actualised.
Ishaku said that he was in Zing to thank the people for massively voting for him in 2015.
“The best time to appreciate that support is now since I have won all the post-election suits instituted by my opponents,” he said.
Earlier, Messrs Anthony David and Anthony Yinnara, who spoke on behalf of Zing and Yorro delegates respectively, appealed to the governor to address the acute water shortage in the areas.(NAN)
NB/ETS
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Edited by Ephraims Sheyin